Today in the Kitchen

I did a lot of prep in the kitchen this morning.....I had a 10# bag of chicken leg quarters that I got for 39¢ last week.  I divided them up to freeze.  These are for Hubby.....I don't eat them LOL! 

 I forgot to take pictures, but I also had a 5# chub of hamburger that I divided up into a 1# and 2# package.  The other 2# I put in the crockpot with some chopped up bell pepper and dehydrated onions.  This will be used for chili sometime soon.

I used the last package of previously purchased leg/thigh quarters and put them in the crockpot for hubby for supper.  I topped them with sweet baby ray's bbq sauce.

I cut up a few red potatoes and put them in water to soak a few hours before I cooked them for supper.

I put them in my fridge to soak.....yes that's my fridge.  Not a lot in it, but it's not very big at all.  We downsized after the youngest son moved into his own place.

Here's my 2 crockpots cooking away.  They will be waiting on my arrival later in the day.

I cut up some red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, red onion and mushrooms to sautee in with the potatoes.  They were super yummy!  I shared a little with hubby to go with his BBQ chicken.

Hubby said his bbq chicken was good.....and the potatoes much better than the first time.

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Prepping for Winter ~~ More in the Bedroom

I love to use my hurricane lamp and candles not only for heat but also for light.  I wasn't feeling safe after adding the blanket the other night so I found an old mirror that was left behind upstairs and polished it up and put it behind the dresser.  (when I say old, I mean actual antique mirror.  It's painted with silver on the back)  Not only does it hold the blanket back at a safe distance, it also makes the light brighter.

Fuzzy, our cat, has a bad habit of using the bed as a litter box when she isn't getting her way.  Part of it I think is she is lonely because she mostly only sees us at night when we are sleeping.  I used the last of our clear plastic (we bought for the windows) and pieced it together to make a cover for the bed.  I'm going to see how she behaves now.  Hopefully she is good and doesn't find someplace else to be naughty.

One half was a little extra long and I had another piece left over from something else, so I pieced them together.  It fits nicely here in the corner by the window where thee blankets don't meet.  I just tucked it in over the rails.  It's behind the dresser and there is a box fan holding the other side.

Slowly making progress.  I have 1 more "wall" to make.  I have been able to keep it about 20 degrees warmer in our "tent" than the temperature outside.  Every little bit helps.

Prepping for Winter ~~ Craft Room

I have a window in my craft room.  This is also the room where my computer is.  It's not is real good shape and mostly covered with plywood.  This past summer we cut a hole in the plywood so we could have more ventilation.  The USA map is taped on the glass over where the hole is in the plywood. There is a LOT of cold air that comes in the window at night.

Sitting next to the window at my computer gets pretty cold some nights already.  I can only imagine how much colder it's going to be once the snow starts falling.

I found an old quilt and a board that was just the right size to fit in the old blind holder.  I shoved the top of the quilt over the board and tucked it in on both ends.  It's long enough there us a good amount there on the window sill.  It may be old and torn but it sure does a good job helping to keep some extra cold air out.  One more step to being warmer.

It’s Time to Get Ready For Cold Weather ~~ Prepping for Winter

Cold weather is just around the corner here. Upper 30’s start tonight and low 20’s are just a couple days away. Burrrr! Thankfully as of the current forecast we aren’t to get any snow. If we do it shouldn’t amount to much at all. So what have I done to prepare for winter?  Well I've gotten out my candle holders and washed the globe on my hurricane lamp. Candles are fun to watch, can smell good, and they put off heat.   I did buy a few scented tea light candles from the dollar tree today. I’ll share about them in another post.

We also have a camping awning over our bed. It’s not anything fancy just a lower "roof" than our actual ceiling. Maybe I should note most of our time is spent in this room. Most of the remaining time is spent at work.

On 2 sides, the side towards the windows and the side towards the door, I have added sheets along the frame of the awning. I have safety pinned it so we can easily slide it back and forth.

I do plan to add sheets on the other 2 ends. Inside this little room in a room is the bed, a dresser, and a space heater. Be watching for more ways we get ready for cold weather. 

Homemade Laundry

I have been doing laundry by hand for almost 2 months now.  Why? Well Our local laundromat has a lot of broken down machines and the owners, being older, aren't wanting to put a lot of money into fixing things, or so I have been told.  It makes it hard to get a machine sometimes, especially when someone else is there and washing a month's worth for a family.  I just asked nicely on a local facebook group how the community could help spruce up the place.  It turned into a bashing session of different people saying things about me and on and on.  Well one guy said "why not get a washboard and go down to the river".  So I took his advice, sorta.  I DO have a wonderwasher that I love love love, so technically not washing everything by hand.

2 T-shirts is a load and it struggles with washing a pair of jeans.  Therefore there are a few things I DO have to wash by hand.  You cant believe how dirty the clean clothes were!  I spent nearly 2 weeks rewashing them and washing real dirty clothes to get them clean.  They smelled awful too.  They didn't smell clean.  It didn't matter how much laundry soap I put in the washer.   For the most part I used Zote laundry soap when I started washing by hand.  That stuff is AMAZING!  I used a lot of [off brand] oxy cleaner too.  Some items I had to wash multiple times to get them clean.

Now a month and a half later, doing laundry is a bit easier.  So far I have been able to keep up with it.  I just do a little each night as there is drying room available.  Smaller non bulky items I wring out by hand.  What do I use to wring out the bugger things?  The wringer on our mop bucket.  It does a pretty good job.  Some day I want a spin dryer.  Something similar to THIS ONE.  It would make getting the water out of the clothes much easier and drying time much quicker.

Now for the laundry soap?  Well I still have store bought liquid that I use occasionally.  It only takes at the most half a teaspoon for a load.  I have noticed though, which I find odd, is sometimes it makes our clothes smell like smoke.  We are non smokers and we aren't around any fireplaces, etc.  What I DO like to use though, like I mentioned above, is Zote laundry bar soap.  I bought several bars a few years back because I was wanting to make homemade laundry soap, but never did.  I also got them for $1 each!  SO what I have been doing is shaving a bar of the laundry soap and adding 2 scoops of the [off brand] oxy cleaner to it.  It's Amazing and takes about 1/2 teaspoon per load.  With all the extra washing I did on the first bar, it has lasted a month and a half.  I'm expecting this batch to last a bit longer.  But still it cost me so little to make, it's not that big of a deal.  LOL!

I know there is more I could put in there, if I followed the recipes found on the web, but why?  I have soap and the oxy cleaner stuff.  Together they do the job and it satisfies me and hubby.  Also if there is a smell that you can describe as "clean" it's our hand washed clothes.  I don't need any artificial smell ingredients added to my laundry, it would just add to the cost too.  :-)

More Ways to Stay Warm

A couple more way we are staying warm upstairs......We have been putting our coats across the foot of the bed.  Not only does it help keep our feet warm, it also makes our coats a bit warmer in the morning when we put them on.  I have started putting my jeans on the bed too.  They usually fall off, but at least I'm trying.  LOL!  

Hubby fixed the front door to where hardly any air comes in at all.  The door actually will swing in or out (it's pretty cool) but he put some trim and weather stripping on the inside to where the door only open out now.  That has made a huge difference in the amount of cold air coming in.  There was a good inch plus gap at the top and you could see all along the edge too.  

One other thing we did last night, which we used to do at our old house (and I had forgotten about until I seen the blanket we used to use) is between is and the top sheet we have put a warm fuzzy blanket.  Oh my that made a big difference in the covers temperature.  

We still have a bit more we want to do.  I still need to finish the moving blankets over the doors.  I think that instead of having to take them down or having to sit on the cold floor to sew them, for now I will safety pin them together.  Maybe come spring or summer I will officially sew them.  More on that later, when I really do have them finished I will share the end results.  So far though  do believe they are helping.  Should help even more after they go all the way to the floor.

I uploaded a short video to YouTube last night.  It's about the current tunisian project I am working on.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stocking Up

Snow is coming.  I checked the forecast yesterday and it's been moved up to today.  I don't know how much we are supposed to be getting or if we will even get any at all. I'm just thankful that we were able to get stocked up on kerosene earlier this week. We also bought a few moving blankets from Harbour Freight to put over our doors. I seen this idea from a van dweller who bought them to line the inside of their van. They are pretty cheap right now. I bought 3 and paid $4.99 each. I still need to cut the third one in half. I'm going to sew the halves to the full ones so it makes them longer and hang to the floor. Here's one door:

 This one is about a foot short and the other door about 2 feet. The blankets are about 6 feet long. I think it's going to work out pretty well. Even like in the picture it made a difference in room temperature.  

Small Space = Less Waste

Living in the apartment I had a HUGE kitchen compared to my dinky kitchen I have now.  I do but I don't miss the apartment kitchen

Apartment Kitchen.  I LOVED it!

My Kitchen now

This is ALL my counter space.  I have about that much room on the other side.  The other side has a book case that holds spices and baking things. A bakers rack and a wooden table that both serve as additional counter space.

Other side of my kitchen

With a smaller space to work in I have discovered I waste less and make less of a mess.  I still make noodles once a week.  I used to make them on the center island counter in the apartment kitchen. The bakers rack is all I have that my noodle maker will attach to.  The wooden table to the right also serves as counter space.

At first I didn't think I would be able to work in the smaller kitchen again, but it's kind of nice.  Less space to keep clean.  Less space for dirty dishes to pile up.  Less waste.

I Hate The Shower!

Its not big enough! It is about the size of a phone booth (for those who remember them). There just isn't enough room to do much of anything in there.  It literally is standing room only.  Raise your arms to wash your hair and you touch the sides or push the curtain out and water gets on the floor. Drop the soap......forget it. You're not getting it unless you physically get out of the shower. There isn't enough room to even squat straight down to get it without touching the sides. 

I made the decision the other night that I will be getting liquid soap to put in there. It is a major ordeal if you drop the bar of soap, and I always do. I also need to get another hand held shower thing to replace the shower head. Not sure why the one we had on there was removed.

Until we get the time and money to put a full size tub back in I will have to make it work the best I can.

This is an old picture from the 1st time we lived there, as you can see the shower is about HALF the size of a  full sized tub.  There used to be a tub in there.

Some Order in the Living Room

We have been totally moved for a little over a week. The kitchen was the first room I have attempted to organize because it was being used before we were finished moving. It still needs work, and I haven't taken any pictures.

My next room was the living room.  I wanted to have it usable by the weekend because we have a free video rental coupon that we would like to use.  I worked an hour and a half and got some organization to it.  At least now we can sit and watch movies and play games.

Here's the before and the after.  There is still stuff on the table that needs to find a home, and most of the boxes and bags in front of the TV belong to the oldest boy, who has moved out on his own.  You know how it goes....they leave stuff behind.  Those things will be finding a place in the shed soon.

I'm rather excited!   Last time we lived here we didn't have a table.  This time it was a priority.  Eating meals at the table is less messy than sitting in the rocker or recliner, and it gives us a place to play games.

Litter Box Small Space

I looked and looked on pinterest, when we decided we were moving, for clever ways to hide the litter box in a small space. I found several cool ideas. However knowing the house we moved to, because we've lived there before, the cool boxes and cabinets wouldn't work because there isn't enough space.

Then I had a bright idea! The space under the kitchen sink. It isn't usable, in my opinion, except for the trash can and things like bug spray cans. It would be a perfect place for the box. I took off the door on the right side so the girls could get in there. Its perfect!  Eventually I would like to put a curtain there where the door is off.

Since it's kind of enclosed I spray Lysol  (I have this pink can) under the sink, and in the box, as well as on the floor in front of the sink, each time I clean the box.  So far this has been working out great!

I linked up with Creativity Unleashed link party!